Sheldon Whitehouse Asks Trump Nom About Mitigating Coastal Flooding Issues Amid Growing Danger

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During a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing last week, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) questioned Adam Telle, nominee to be Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, about coastal flooding issues.

Transcript

00:00Senator Whitehouse.

00:02Thanks, Chairman.

00:04Mr. McMaster, the Chair and I both intend to deliver to you a robust bipartisan surface transportation reauthorization.

00:14As we discussed in my office, in order for that to happen,

00:18we need assurances that whatever bipartisan legislation we write and get enacted into law

00:24will be implemented by the Executive Branch in a faithful and unbiased way.

00:29And in particular, we need to clear the illegal funding freezes that have jammed up so many already appropriated projects.

00:38Will you commit to implementing any and all authorized programs in a faithful and unbiased manner?

00:44Senator, I appreciate your comment and your question.

00:49It's an important one.

00:50I give you my full commitment, if I'm confirmed, to implement the law with the intent of Congress.

00:59You understand how it would be hard for the minority to agree to a bipartisan bill

01:07if the upshot of that agreement was that only the majority's parts of the bill were actually implemented

01:13and everything that we wanted got binned by the Executive Branch?

01:17Senator, I appreciate your comments.

01:19I think, as the Secretary pointed out, infrastructure is not partisan.

01:25And you have my full commitment to implement the law in accordance with the intent of Congress.

01:33Mr. Tell, I have referred to the Army Corps of Engineers as the bureaucratic tributary of the Mississippi River.

01:39That's a rhetorical point that I make to highlight the extent to which the Army Corps appears to favor inland

01:49over coastal flooding projects.

01:53We've looked back at the inland and coastal flooding account at the Army Corps,

01:59and its best year was $20 for inland for every $1 for flooding, for flooding, coastal, right?

02:07That was our best year as coastal states.

02:09Worst year was $100 for inland flooding for every $1 for coastal flooding.

02:16Rhode Island's sea level is up about 11 inches.

02:21That's not a debatable proposition.

02:23You measure that the same way you measure the height of your kid on the doorway.

02:29It's really simple.

02:30It's inches and rulers.

02:33And so we have real coastal flooding issues.

02:37And I would like your assurance that you will take these inland versus coastal concerns seriously

02:47as coastal flooding becomes more and more of a danger for coastal communities.

02:54Senator Whitehouse, thank you for raising this issue.

02:58And I look forward to and am eager to, if confirmed, make sure we have our hands around this data and understand it.

03:05I think historically the riverine flooding has been easier to predict, perhaps, than the locations of coastal flooding.

03:13But that doesn't mean we shouldn't invest a greater amount in coastal flooding.

03:17This is obviously an issue that's been near and dear to my heart, working on hurricane recovery my entire career,

03:23as well as inland flooding, riverine flooding.

03:26But I would just say I think you're right.

03:29As we work to justify and prioritize, as Chairman Capito mentioned,

03:33the projects that are of the greatest benefit to the public,

03:35we have to be able to consider things that have in the past been unpredictable

03:39and try to predict them more accurately.

03:41Thank you, Senator.

03:42Yeah, I'd also add that FEMA's mapping has been such a flagrant disaster

03:48that states like mine have had to do their own flood mapping

03:55because FEMA's mapping simply wasn't worthy of belief.

04:00You don't have to look much beyond FEMA's flood mapping of the Houston area

04:06versus the actual flooding, repeated flooding, in the Houston area,

04:11which is a really big area in the last decade, to see how bad FEMA's mapping has been.

04:18So part of the problem is to fix the mapping as well as to fix the priorities.

04:25So I look forward to working with you on that.

04:27Senator, if I may really quickly, this is an issue I've worked on in the past,

04:31and I would say there is a great deal of frustration in the public around FEMA's mapping programs.

04:37It's not something that I will be in charge of if confirmed,

04:39but certainly something I will work on.

04:42But to the extent that you rely on them, you need to go in eyes wide open that they're a failure.

04:46One of the frustrations that the public has had about FEMA's maps

04:48is it doesn't adequately consider flash flooding, rain storms.

04:53It only considers storm surges in many cases,

04:56and it doesn't adequately consider flood control infrastructures.

05:00So these are issues that have to be addressed

05:02in order to give the public confidence in the government's product.

05:04I'd also like to work with you and the chairman on a priorities list.

05:09We're committee members who feel that a project has gotten lost in the Army Corps' bureaucracy

05:15can get a regular scheduled briefing from the Army Corps

05:19where we put our projects on that list,

05:22and you know that those projects are on that list,

05:26and you're going to have to come in and report to us on them on a regular basis

05:29so that projects that are important to members of this committee

05:33get the attention that they deserve.

05:35Senator, when Congress passes a law and the president signs it,

05:40there's some expectation that it be followed,

05:42and I look forward to working with you on that.

05:43Good.

05:43Well, this is an issue where the chair and I are going to need to work together and agree,

05:47but we would certainly urge that senior Army Corps folks

05:50turn up for those briefings on those projects

05:53once we've sorted out what that looks like.

05:55And I would add just...

05:58And I would add just...

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